Chances
by BecsX
Summary: Don’t waste this chance Barnett, you wont get another one... MAJOR From here to Paternity spoilers!


**Title: **Chances

**Warnings:** Major spoilers for From here to Paternity.

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, I don't own ER... don't sue me. Not that it'd do much good- I'm skint! hehe!

**Summary:** Don't waste this chance Barnett, you wont get another one... Reela. MAJOR From here to Paternity spoilers.

**A/N:** Yeah ok, this is my fist ER fic... be nice! Review and lemme know what you think. :)

**Rating:** Um... K? Nothing bad, explicit or anything like that.

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He didn't know he was going to kiss her. He had gone over this scenario countless times in his mind, but he never actually thought any of his elaborate dreams of showing her how much he loved her would ever become reality. But here he was, looking at her and seeing what he had been hoping to see for months now.

'Don't waste this chance Barnett, you wont get another one' he urged himself before he leant towards her, making his intentions more than clear.

He expected her to run, leave the car and never mention it again so he was adequately surprised when she met him half way and as their lips finally connected, fireworks exploded behind his eyelids.

He didn't want to push this too far or too fast and so he pulled away from her slightly allowing her the chance to run, something that he once again expected her to do. And again, as before she did exactly the opposite of what he had thought and she didn't move a millimetre away from him. That was all the encouragement he needed for him to close the gap again covering her lips with her own, this time taking the kiss deeper and full of passion.

It was far from the heated kisses he had experienced lately, there was no urgency behind it, no hidden agenda to take it further than kissing, and no expectations other than the obvious silent declaration.

Ray had kissed countless women in his time, it was no secret, but kissing Neela was… different. Better somehow.

He knew in that moment what it felt like to kiss the person you were in love with and he knew then that even if this was a one-time thing (oh how he wished and hoped for more) no woman would come close to kissing him like this. No other woman had ever been able to make him feel this way with a kiss and he knew that no one else would make his knees weak, his heart flutter and no one would send such an electrifying tingle of pleasure racing up his spine with a single touch of lips to lips.

As he kissed her, all conscious thought left his mind. The music playing in the background faded to nothing, all that mattered was her and he knew that that was the way it was going to be for the rest of his life.

He didn't realised she had released his hand to bury it in his hair until he felt her fingers scrape his scalp lightly as she pulled him closer to her. Still, there was no feeling of wanting or expecting more than they could comfortably do in the truck. True, it wasn't the romantic setting that Ray had pictured this happening in but he sure wasn't complaining, kissing Neela as it snowed outside was the most romantic first kiss he could imagine.

His own hands had somehow trailed up her sides to mimic her own hands and he let his fingers delve into her slightly curled locks as their lips continued to move against one another.

Finally and highly reluctantly the kiss ended and both he and Neela pulled back from one another. Neela slowly let her hand drop from his hair to come to rest on his shoulder while Ray moved a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Ray" she spoke first, her voice hoarse and throaty as though she was finding it difficult to speak.

All he could manage in reply was a small sound somewhere between and questioning grunt and a moan that was meant to have been a "Yeah?"

It seemed as though she understood however as she smiled and took his hand resting in her lap in her own. "I can't do this right now."

And with those 6 words his whole world came crashing down around him. He thought that they were finally going somewhere; he thought that this was the start of something beautiful but instead it was the end of his world. He had hoped that the kiss would show her how much he loved her and her reaction was an answer to his silent question. He thought it was a positive step.

As his heart broke she forced him to look at her "I need to talk to Tony first." She said and hope came flooding back into his life.

"Gates?" he managed to croak out, the emotion in his voice so clear it was almost painful.

"Yeah. I need to be honest about this. I wasn't honest before and it killed me. I wasn't honest with you, with Michael or with myself and I almost lost you because of it. I need to talk to Tony and tell him that he and I aren't going to work before I can start anything with you."

"I understand" he nodded, smiling slightly.

"I'm glad." She smiled in return "So you said you're off tomorrow, when are you in again?"

"Day after. Start at midday."

"So it'll be alright if I came over after my shift?" she asked although they both already knew the answer.

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There you have it folks, my first ER fic. Please review.

Just Breathing


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